Prisoner's Parting Words Reveal Lack of Hope

 I am housed in a prison from which prisoners frequently parole, so I often have the occasion to either pray with or give parting words of advice to prisoners on their way out the door. For many of the prisoners I do not know well, I simply shake their hand and say something like, "Try to do the right thing out there. I hope I don't see you again unless it's on the outside." 

Such was the greeting I gave a guy who paroled this past week. I knew him by name and had spoken with him a few times, but he wasn't in the circle of men with whom I hung out. Still, I was happy to see him leaving and expressed the above sentiments after giving him a handshake/hug. I have done this literally dozens and dozens of times in the past, nearly all with responses similar to, "Thanks. I'm not coming back again..."

Imagine how startled I felt when this particular prisoner responded to me, rather honestly, with, "I'm quite sure I'll be back. I'm pretty sure I'm not done with this life. I've got at least one more bit in me." 

While I appreciated his candor, I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of sorrow for this man. His particular issue involved drugs, and he honestly knew that he was not ready to give up the life of an addict. But the utter sense of hopelessness I felt in his words troubled me. 

Prison is intensely isolating and lonely, and I wouldn't wish this existence on anyone I cared about. Yet, this man's life outside of prison apparently held no joy, no hope, for him. His sense of hopelessness was such that he expected prison to be his reality or the foreseeable future. I wish I had been able to reach him while we lived in the same housing unit in prison, but he clearly was not yet ready to turn the corner. 

Addictive and criminal mindsets do not change overnight, but neither do they change at all until the person is ready for a change. Honestly, I don't know this man's background, so I couldn't say what sort of life he faced in leaving prison, but he had to have felt hopeless enough that prison was his likely, and even preferred, outcome. As a society, what do we do with situations like these? 

Criminalizing addiction is not a good idea, but you also can't help someone with treatment if he is not yet ready for a change. While this man's particular situation involved addiction, the same holds true for criminal mindsets. Prison reforms are often aimed at minimizing the risks of paroling prisoners reoffending and returning to prison. That's a worthy aim. But what do we do with those who are bound and determined to continue living a criminal lifestyle? 

I honestly don't think there is a good answer. We do the best we can to provide tools and hope for those who otherwise have neither. We smooth the path to success as much as possible, but in the end the person has to want it. Sadly, not all do. But let's not give up simply because some fail to make the change. Some people learn quickly from their mistakes. Others, well, they might just take a little longer to hit the corner where they finally turn their lives around. The key is to keep urging and educating change and rewarding it with encouragement and support along the way.